Feel free to feel optimistic, if the question was asked in Balkans, it would prompt a counter-question if the coin was serbian or croatian. _________________“If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him”

A total of 97 MPs were asked this probability problem: if you spin a coin twice, what is the probability of getting two heads?

Among Conservative members, 47% gave the wrong answer, which is disappointing enough. But of the 44 Labour MPs who took part, 77% answered incorrectly. more...

Hmmmm. I am surprised and not. Certainly, I would think some guy off the street wouldn't get this right. But you would think that people who can get themselves elected to parliament would be able to get this right. It's scary to think these people are making budget decisions. In any case, the general populations difficulty with numbers is a big and old problem. And its not just a problem for them, its a problem for everyone. We all have to deal with the fact that many people can't compute percentages, forget up amortized mortgages.

of course, we are all shocked. but the average joe may think who needs to know that?

I guess this answers the question of why lotteries and casinos can rake in the cash.

interesting in the context of the other thread concerning the US president and science. It seems to me that presidents and MPs, should have a pretty solid grounding in AT LEAST high school maths and science. these people, after all, come up with out budgets.

interesting in the context of the other thread concerning the US president and science. It seems to me that presidents and MPs, should have a pretty solid grounding in AT LEAST high school maths and science. these people, after all, come up with out budgets.

interesting in the context of the other thread concerning the US president and science. It seems to me that presidents and MPs, should have a pretty solid grounding in AT LEAST high school maths and science. these people, after all, come up with out budgets.

"Without" is one word.

Wrong grammar nazism, s/out/our/_________________

juniper wrote:

you experience political reality dilation when travelling at american political speeds. it's in einstein's formulas. it's not their fault.

interesting in the context of the other thread concerning the US president and science. It seems to me that presidents and MPs, should have a pretty solid grounding in AT LEAST high school maths and science. these people, after all, come up with out budgets.

democrats don't want to do budgets because budgets mean they're openly admitting that they're spending. obama introduced his budget, and republicans unanimously voted against it in lockstep, but democrats also unanimously voted against because they don't want to admit they're spending a fuckton of money. that's right, obama got 0 votes for his budget because the other party says he spends like a prostitute with someone else's visa black, and his own party doesn't want to admit they're spending like a prostitute with someone else's visa black.

Paul Ryan ain't impressive. can't take the axe to the biggest pig in the US budget (military).

Entitlements are the "biggest pig", and you know this. Defense is constitutionally mandated, HUD, both DoE, PBS, NPR, and the laundry list of lefty special interests are not._________________There is no god but Bach, Beethoven is the messenger of Bach.

Paul Ryan ain't impressive. can't take the axe to the biggest pig in the US budget (military).

Entitlements are the "biggest pig", and you know this. Defense is constitutionally mandated, HUD, both DoE, PBS, NPR, and the laundry list of lefty special interests are not.

Entitlements are pigs, I know this, but they aren't one thing. So are the rest. But at least people like those things, and nobody dies getting them. But I am not going to hide. everything needs cutting, but nothing more than the pig known as "defence". Defence may be constitutionally mandated, but the amount spent on it is not. You could spend 0. so, throw me a bone. say it. paul ryan is a twerp when it counts, and your little cartoon of him should be printed out and used as toilet paper. You do know if the rest of the planet ganged up on you guys, you would still win. So, trust me, you can afford to cut military a bit. But don't do it for me, do it for yourselves.

This position by people on the right baffles me.

Last edited by juniper on Fri Oct 05, 2012 3:27 pm; edited 4 times in total

Forgive me if this sounds nationalistic or like typical American arrogance, but this is probably because you have always lived a secure, sheltered life, in large part, courtesy of U.S. Defense spending. Note that I agree we can't afford to spend as much on Defense, at least not in the short term, and it should be cut.

However, this should scare U.S. allies more than anybody else. A large share of that money is directly or indirectly spent creating and fielding new weapons systems. In addition to the security of having a powerful military ally, our allies benefit both militarily, economically, and socially from the flow of technology advancements produced by U.S. defense R&D.

If the U.S. shuts down the works and just starts buying its weapons elsewhere, the entire Western world will have to pick up the slack (a shitload of slack), both in terms of securing themselves and in terms of military R&D, or live under constant bullying from the likes of China, Russia, and soon, possibly a unified Islamic threat._________________Deja Moo: the feeling that you've heard this bull before